New Orleans Saints 2012 Season Preview

Deep in his Illinois-born and Bill Parcells-reared heart, does the New Orleans
Saints head coach hope that his team will flourish -- or flounder -- in his
absence during the 2012 NFL season?

The Saints' boss was shelved for an entire year by Commissioner Roger Goodell
in the aftermath of the bounty scandal uncovered during the offseason that
claimed New Orleans coaches were complicit with a system of monetary rewards
for players making big hits and causing injuries.

A great season under interim coaches Joe Vitt and Aaron Kromer might take some
of the luster off Payton's reputation as a dynamic wonder boy, while a
mediocre slog through the schedule without him could enhance his aura.

The "problem" for the 48-year-old Payton, who played three "replacement" games
with the Chicago Bears during the 1987 players strike, is that the Saints
aren't likely to tumble far no matter who's barking out the orders.

Long one of the league's laughingstock franchises, New Orleans has been closer
to the gold standard in the six seasons since Payton succeeded Jim Haslett,
winning double-digit games four times, 13 games twice and putting together a
memorable post-Katrina Super Bowl championship run during the 2009 campaign.

The second of those dozen-plus victory skeins came last season, when the
Saints won the NFC's South Division title and scored 45 points in a Wild Card
Round rout of the Detroit Lions, before a gut-punch loss to San Francisco in
the Divisional Playoffs after the 49ers scored with nine seconds remaining.

And while Payton and also-suspended linebacker Jonathan Vilma will not return
for 2012, New Orleans does bring back much of the talent that's been around
for the bulk of the run to prominence. That's particularly the case on
offense, where the Saints scored an eye-popping 547 points -- an average of
34.2 per game -- this past season.

Quarterback Drew Brees led the league in completions (468, NFL record),
completion percentage (71.2), passing yards (5476, NFL record), touchdown
passes (46) and passing yards per game (342.3, NFL record) last season, and
enters 2012 within striking distance of Johnny Unitas' record streak of
consecutive games with a touchdown pass.

Brees has at least one scoring toss in 42 straight games. Unitas went 47
straight from 1956-60.

The Purdue University product presumably enters the season content with his
wallet as well, having signed a five-year deal worth $100 million in July
following a few months of back-and-forth posturing between he and the Saints.

"It's been a little surreal just because of the process throughout the
offseason and just how challenging an offseason it's been for everyone,
obviously everyone within the Saints organization, this city," Brees said.
"It's just been a crazy offseason and I think we're all just ready to get back
to work and excited that it's all starting [again]. It's hard to believe."

So, summertime nonsense aside, it's not surprising that Kromer, who'll run the
team until Vitt returns from his six-game season-opening penalty, is
optimistic.

"I'm going to hold this thing over until Joe Vitt gets back. I'm going to hold
the fort," Kromer said. "It's important that Drew Brees feels this is Sean
Payton's program. This is the way we do things. This is the way we did it in
2009 to win the Super Bowl. This is the way we did it in 2011 to win 14
football games. This is the formula that we have followed to have success. I'm
a fill-in for the fill-in."

Below we take a capsule look at the 2012 edition of the New Orleans Saints,
with a personnel evaluation and prognosis included therein:

2011 RECORD: 13-3 (1st, NFC South)

LAST PLAYOFF APPEARANCE: 2011, lost to San Francisco in NFC Divisional Playoff

COACH (RECORD): Joe Vitt (first season with Saints, 4-7 in one season overall)
/Aaron Kromer

QB: As mentioned, Brees (5476 passing yards, 46 TD, 14 INT in 2011) is pretty
good and shows no signs of reverting back to the error-prone, injury-plagued
passer that washed out of San Diego and was snubbed by Miami before winding up
with the Saints in 2006. Since arriving in New Orleans, he's been the NFL's
Offensive Player of the Year, the league's Player of the Year (the Bert Bell
Award) and a Super Bowl MVP. Brees' backup, Chase Daniel, has thrown precisely
eight passes and completed six in two seasons since making the team as an
undrafted free agent. Veteran Luke McCown (296 passing yards, 0 TD, 4 INT with
Jaguars) entered camp No. 3 on the depth chart.

RB: Sproles gained 603 rushing yards on 87 carries and added 86 receptions for
710 yards while scoring nine times last season. He's not a prototype ball-
carrier, but certainly fills an offensive role that 2011 first-round draft
pick Mark Ingram (474 rushing yards, 5 TD) hasn't quite yet while battling
balky knees. Pierre Thomas is another dual threat in the New Orleans
backfield, gaining 562 yards on the ground while also grabbing 50 passes for
425 yards last season. Jed Collins (11 receptions, 2 TD) returns at fullback
and is coming off a very good season as a lead blocker.

WR/TE: Colston (80 receptions, 1143 yards, 8 TD), the athletic phenom from
Hofstra, re-signed with the Saints during the offseason and will return as
Brees' most threatening target at wide receiver. Moore (52 receptions, 8 TD)
is an undersized safety valve who benefits from the Saints' pass-to-open-up-
the-run offense. Fellow wideout Robert Meachem is gone to San Diego, but
Devery Henderson returns and had 32 catches for 503 yards and two touchdowns
last year. Graham, the marvel from the University of Miami, had a Rob
Gronkowski-like season at tight end with 99 catches, 1,310 receiving yards and
11 scores to earn his first All-Pro recognition.

OL: Left guard Carl Nicks left via free agency in the offseason but was
replaced by 310-pounder Ben Grubbs, a Pro Bowl performer in Baltimore a year
ago. Right guard Jahri Evans has been named an all-star three straight years
and returns after offseason knee surgery. In the middle, Brian De La Puente
started 12 games at center in 2011 and is back as well. The tackle spots are
occupied by Jermon Bushrod on the left side and Zach Strief on the right,
though third-year pro Charles Brown started five games last season and could
nudge Strief out of the lineup without a recurrence of the hip injury that
sidelined him for part of 2011.

DL: Pressuring the quarterback from the front line was an intermittent
challenge for the 2011 Saints, who addressed the need by signing former Denver
tackle Brodrick Bunkley (43 tackles) in free agency. He should help take some
heat off interior mate Sedrick Ellis (31 tackles), who went from six sacks in
16 games in 2010 to just a half-sack in 15 last season. Rookie third-round
pick Akiem Hicks (Regina), a physical specimen at 6-foot-5, 324 pounds, will
start his career behind Ellis at left tackle. Right end Will Smith (36
tackles) will spend the season's four games on the shelf with a suspension
before he begins trying to surpass his 6 1/2-sack output of last year. Across
from him is second-year man Cameron Jordan, who had 31 tackles and a sack in
16 games. Junior Galette (18 tackles), who had 4 1/2 sacks as a situational
rusher, will get fill-in time as a starter during Smith's early-season
absence.

LB: Middle linebacker Curtis Lofton arrived as a free agent from Atlanta in
the offseason and will help fill the void left by Vilma's absence. He had 147
tackles and two interceptions with the Falcons and should be a more-than-
adequate substitute. Another free agent brought in is weakside man David
Hawthorne, who had 115 tackles, three interceptions and two sacks in his final
season with Seattle. The two newcomers have been dogged with injuries during
the preseason, however, and are questionable for the start of the regular
season with ankle and knee ailments, respectively. Veteran Scott Shanle is
back on the strong side and came up with 69 tackles last season.

DB: Starting cornerback Tracy Porter is gone to Denver as a free agent,
leaving holdovers Jabari Greer (72 tackles, 1 interception) and 2010 first-
round pick Patrick Robinson, who started eight games this past season and had
48 tackles and four interceptions. Both of them have also been dinged up
during training camp, which could yield playing time for 2011 third-rounder
Johnny Patrick as the new nickel back. Roman Harper (95 tackles, 7.5 sacks)
and Malcolm Jenkins (77 tackles, 1 sack) return as safeties after combining
for 172 tackles last season, though neither came up with an interception.
Harper did lead the club in sacks and is a dangerous blitzer, however.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Sproles is the first-stringer on both kickoff and punt returns
and scored twice in the special teams department last season while averaging
an excellent 27.2 yards taking back kicks. Kicker Garrett Hartley missed all
of 2011 with a hip injury and will try to retake the job from veteran John
Kasay, who was 28-of-34 on field goal attempts last season. Punter Thomas
Morstead had 13 kicks inside the 20-yard line and a net average of 43.1 yards
in his second year in the league, earning him a lucrative contract extension
during the early stages of camp.

PROGNOSIS: There's been upheaval with coaches. There's been contract hemming-
and-hawing with Brees. And there have been injury issues with several members
of the defense. But none of it changes the fact that the Saints will return
all the key ingredients of a 30-plus point-per-game offense, and there's no
reason they shouldn't approach the same numbers this season. New Orleans is a
solid bet to keep its string of 10-win seasons going, but the Saints will only
go as far as the points will take them when they face presumably more-
challenging defenses in the postseason. Having the home team play in the
Superdome for Super Bowl XLVII may not be a lock, but it's hardly an
impossibility.